


Two Halves of a Whole

by loisselina (LoisSelina)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anti Hook, Charming Family Feels, De-Aged Emma Swan, Evil Queen | Regina Mills & Prince Charming | David Nolan Friendship, Evil Queen | Regina Mills & Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard Friendship, Family, Fluff and Angst, Henry is 18 and just graduated, Multi, Neal is 4 now, Neverland Emma is infected, Parent Prince Charming | David Nolan, Parent Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard, Protective Parent Prince Charming | David Nolan, Set during season 7, Sibling Jealousy, The Charming Family, Two Emmas, anti Captain Hook, anti captain swan, anti killian jones, neverland au, one Emma is nearly 35 the other is 28
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-03-21 22:11:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13750242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoisSelina/pseuds/loisselina
Summary: Emma has been trapped in Neverland for the past 7 years while a copy of her, made from her darker parts, the parts which have been desperate to fit in.Emma is suddenly back in Storybrooke, and face to face with her copy, and finds the her entire world has changed - her copy is married, her son is an adult, and her parents have another child.Her family find that Neverland has changed Emma too.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Oh look I've started yet another story.... whoops?

 

_Emma didn’t sleep in Neverland. Everyone else seemed to be able to, her parents were cuddled together, and Regina and Hook were asleep in their own places. They had just been in Echo Cave and she had heard her parents secrets, Mary Margaret wanted a baby she could actually raise and David couldn’t leave the island, Mary Margaret had told him that she would stay with him in Neverland. Emma was trying to push it to the back of her mind, they’d get around to saving her father and then she was sure that her mother would insist on them all talking it through she always did. She had to focus on Henry right now though._

_She sighed in frustration, how could they all sleep here with all the sound of the children crying and the creatures in the night, it was like they couldn’t hear it at all. But there was something more tonight, something added to the sound, singing. Soft, comforting, familiar. She looked around._

_“David, Mary Margaret,” She hissed trying to wake them, “you guys hear that?”_

_They didn’t stir._

_She stood up, she spared one last look at them, they were constantly staying that they need to stay together… but they were asleep and she could look after herself. She followed the singing._

_The singing grew louder the deeper she went into the forest, she came across a clearing with a glowing orb, it was almost hypnotising. “Is this the time where everything turns to shit because I acted like someone in a horror movie?” She asked the orb._

_“Hello Emma.”_

_Emma jumped at the voice, she turned towards it, and anger raged inside of her at the sight of the boy who refused to grow up. “You little bastard.”_

_“That’s not very nice, and to think, I’m sharing one of my most prized possessions with you.”_

_“I’m not big on surprises. What do you want?” Her hand curled into a tight fist._

_“I want to help you. You can hear them, can’t you?”_

_“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”_

_“Yes you do. The lost children. Lost. Neglected. Forgotten. You know how that feels don’t you. Little Emma, always an orphan, without even a real surname. I’m going to free you from that… well a part of you. The part who was always desperate to fit in, who would pretend to be different, who would bend their morals.”_

_“Don’t you dare touch me.”_

_“Oh Emma, I won’t touch you, I don’t need to.”_

_Emma tried to move, to punch the smug smile off the arrogant little bastard’s face, but she was stuck in place. “What the hell! Let me go.” She looked at the orb whose light was now pulsating. “Mary Margaret! David!” She shouted desperately._

_“The best part is you stay here with me, the last boys and the Neverland creatures, I’m sure that we can bring out your inner child.”_

_“What the fuck do you mean?”_

_“I mean now that the orb has got you you’re going to slowly turn into one of us, a lost girl, there’s nothing you can do about it.”_

_Emma felt her breath quicken, she watched smaller lights flicker out of the orb and start to form a human shape across the clearing from her. It took her a little longer than it should have done for her to realise that the orbs were indeed doing what Pan had claimed they would do: They were making a copy of her._

_She took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs, names she had only said once before when the town was about to explode, a mere week ago. “Mom! Dad!”_


	2. Chapter 2

 

_Emma had changed a lot since Henry had knocked on the door of her Boston apartment. She had broken, or helped break, several curses. She had moved from Storybrooke to New York and back again, been to Camelot, The Underworld, a wish version of The Enchanted Forest.. She had gained a brother, lost her first love, gained a friend in the form of an ice queen, she had entered a relationship with Hook. She’d taken on the Darkness by saving her boyfriend and had gone back to normal. She’d defeated more villains and gone to more realms than she had even known existed. She’d gotten married._

_Henry had changed immensely. He was almost eighteen. He had just finished planning a trip to a different realm. The night before his graduation he was in the garage at Regina’s house working on his bike, August had taught him everything he knew, how to ride a bike and how to fix it up. He grabbed a rag and wiped some of the grease from his hands._

_“Hey kid.”_

_Henry turned around and saw Emma leaning against the open garage door, he grinned back at her, he mainly lived at Regina’s now but he saw his other mom often enough. “Hey mom, what’s up?”_

_“I just came to see how you’re feeling.”_

_Henry raised his eyebrow in confusion. “I’m fine.”_

_“Big day tomorrow.”_

_Henry let out a puff of laughter. Regina had asked him the same thing earlier on. He had a very strong feeling that his mothers were more nervous over his graduation than he was. He shrugged and leant back against his bike, crossing one leg over the over and crossing his arms over his chest. “I guess…. Now I know that I’m definitely graduating it doesn’t really seem like too big of a deal, I mean it’s not exactly breaking a curse, or travelling to a different realm.”_

_“Which is why you’re going to go travelling.” She said knowingly. “I get it.”_

_“Is that why you and Killian are going travelling too?”_

_“That’s different, at least I’m travelling  in this realm, for now.” Emma picked up one of the spare rags and started to toy with it. “Killian… he’s a pirate at heart, staying in one place it’s not really his thing, with you leaving town and my parents have their jobs and Nee now’s the perfect time.”  She didn’t mention that Killian had been bringing up having a child before she had mentioned them going travelling, she wasn’t ready to have a kid with him, or perhaps with anyone._

_Henry frowned a little, he wasn’t around his mom and Killian too much, he mainly saw his step-father at family events and dinners and Emma was always so happy that she was practically bubbly round him. “And what do you want?”_

_Emma frowned. She wasn’t quite sure what she was meant to say to that, she had seen her parents’ marriage where they agreed on a lot and wanted pretty much the same things all the time, she was trying to get a relationship like that. She plastered on a smile and changed the conversation._

* * *

 

_They were all gathered in Granny’s, with all of their friends and family, celebrating Henry having graduated. Granny had closed it off just for them to celebrate, and was now handing out flutes of champagne to everyone, Emma took one from the old lady and stood on one side of Henry, Regina stood on the other. Both of the women looked beyond proud of their so._

_Also proud of the young man were his grandparents, Gold and Belle were there with three year old Gideon cuddled asleep  in his mother’s arms, Snow and David gratefully took a flute each and took the small plastic one from Granny filled with soda._

_David crouched down so that he was eye level with his four year old son. “Hey buddy, this special one is yours, you have to raise it up when we all do then you drink it, okay?”_

_“Okay daddy.” Neal grinned taking it from David, his grin only widened when he saw that it was soda, he wasn’t often allowed soda only on special occasions. “I like Henry’s party.”_

_David chuckled and ruffled his hair. “Me too buddy.” He stood back up, he wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist as Regina tapped a glass to get everyone’s attention. He hid a chuckle as he watched Henry’s cheeks tinge pink with embarrassment knowing that his mother was about to make an embarrassing speech. David turned his attention to Emma, she was looking so proud of Henry, she couldn’t stop from smiling.  
He leant his head down closer to his wife’s. “She looks happy, really happy, doesn’t she?”_

_Snow leant against him. They had had a few of those conversations over the years, Emma had changed so much over the past few years that they figured they were just being paranoid, they didn’t see her as often since they moved to the farm, David wasn’t working with her since he left being sheriff, they saw her every other week, her and Killian. “She looks very proud of Henry.” Snow stated_

_They all raised their glasses up to Regina’s toast._

_“To Henry!”_

_As they all took sips of their champagne the sky darkened outside in a way it hadn’t in four years._

_Regina, Snow, David, Emma, Killian, and Henry all rushed outside, Gold followed shortly after, leaving the kids under the protection of Belle and Granny._

_They all had flashbacks to years previous, to when the darkness had swirled around Emma, only this time the magic was green._

_Emma, Gold, and Regina readied their magic, none of the others had weapons they hadn’t needed to use any for years, but they stood readied regardless._

_The magic disappeared._

_At the epicentre was a woman crouched with her head own. Her grey tank and black skinny jeans and boots were so dirty that it was almost impossible to be able to tell what colour they were, and were so cut up that they were barely hanging on. Her hair was matted and the parts of her skin which weren’t caked with mud were filled with bruises and cuts. On her back she had a sword strapped. When she looked up they could see more cuts and bruises. And on her face was a look of surprise, as though she had been waiting for that moment for years, and disbelief as though she had been dreaming about it for so long that she couldn’t trust her eyes._

_David was the one who spoke first, who broke out of their own surprise and disbelief, he took a couple of steps forward. “Emma?”_


	3. Chapter 3

 

David ran to her first. He stopped about a foot away from her and crouched so that she would be on her eye level. He would have ran to her and just scooped her up completely but she reminded him of scared sheep they had sometimes adopted on his family’s farm, the ones who had been wild or had been rescued by predators, she was hurt and terrified and David wanted to be able to save her… but she was so scared. He heard voices in the background: Snow was stopping Emma from just firing her magic at the Emma who had just appeared, Regina was demanding to know what the hell was going on she could sense that the magic between the two Emmas was completely different, Gold seemed bemused before telling them that they were both Emma they were just different versions of her. David could see her eyes flickering around, all the loud voices and shouts of confusion, she looked so scared. David could just hear Gold’s words saying that this was the same Emma they took to Neverland. She was his daughter as much as the Emma stood being calmed by Snow was.

“Emma.” He said softly, he watched her eyes focus on him, the bruises around them and bloodshot whites made the green irises shine brighter. “Emmy, do you remember who I am.”

Emma nodded slowly. He was David, David Nolan, Prince Charming, her father. But his hair was different from when she had last seen it, it was shorter, and he looked older. But he was familiar, and he was looking at her lovingly, and he was one of the people she had been crying for during however long she had been in Neverland. She hadn’t called him it before, not to his face, but in her head for the period they had been apart. She was in pain and terrified and it slipped out. “Daddy?”

David smiled softly and spoke even softer. “Yeah, kiddo, it’s me.” He edged closer.  
He heard Snow sending the older Emma to cool down and to talk to Gold and Killian about what this could be, after a moment of staring Henry said he would be going with his grandfather, mother, and step father.

Snow walked to David’s side and crouched down, staring at Emma, examining her with a mother’s worrying and concerned face.

David gently took hold of Emma’s, she winced, he looked down and realised it was bruised and swollen. “Emmy.” he was talking to her as though she was a child, he knew his Emma, the other Emma, would have given him a look, but this one was so scared and she just looked childlike, like she was younger than Neal. “We need to take you to the hospital, you need to be looked over, I think you’ve been injured a lot.”

“No. I don't like them. No. I don’t need a hospital.”

“Sweetie, I’m afraid you do.” Snow said gently. “You’ve been hurt pretty badly so we need to make sure that you’re okay. And then we need to talk I think. We’ll sort all of this out I promise.”

“How… How are you here?” She asked David frowning, she couldn’t believe that her father was there, he was on Main Street, in Storybrooke, he was breathing.

“I’m here to help you.” David told her gently, he could tell how confused she was, but he didn’t quite understand.

“No, how, how… I don’t understand. You’re here.”

“I am.” He told her, he looked at Snow who stood up to talk to Regina, he watched Snow quickly head back into Granny’s no doubt to ask Granny or Belle to watch Neal while they took Emma to the hospital and figured out what was going on. He looked back at Emma smiling comforting at her. “Mommy will be back in a minute.” He promised, he was trying to continue speaking as calmly and comfortingly to her as he could, and not to let his imagination run wild about what had happened to her and how it was possible. “That sword on your back looks very uncomfortable, how about we unstrap it-“

“No!” Emma’s voice tore her throat as she shouted.

“Okay, okay, it’s okay buddy.” David held his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “I won’t take it.”

Emma slowly nodded. She was terrified that she’d suddenly find that she was back in Neverland, but none of the hallucinations she had been subjected to were as vivid as this was, the hallucinations had gotten weaker over time but this felt real, so real. “’kay.” She whispered. “You… You can take it but… just tell me, _how are you here? You’re okay…”_ Her eyes were wide and she smiled faintly and in disbelief. “ _You’re okay._ ”

“Of course I’m okay. Emma, I’m sorry, I don’t understand what’s confusing you.” He watched Snow come back and wrap a blanket around Emma. He shared a look with his wife then looked back at Emma, she was in the same outfit she had been when they were in Neverland, he frowned then spoke gently and slowly. “How I got back from Neverland…?”

Emma nodded, tears appeared in her eyes, she could hear David’s words in her head as he told them that he would survive the poison but he would never be allowed to leave the island. “I thought you’d be stuck there… how are you here? I… I tried to find you all on the island…. When I got free… I… I couldn’t find you.” She started to sniffle in fear.  
She was terrified of that island, she felt a pining feeling inside for her parents, she just wanted her mom and dad. She had cried for them all the time. As she was tortured by the creatures and the island itself. She had only called them Mom and Dad once before they were separated on the island, but since them she had called them it all the time, out loud and in her head.  
“I tried to find you.” She promised.

“It’s okay Emma, we believe you, I’m sorry that we got separated. We’re going to sort this out.” Snow reassured her.  
This Emma didn’t appear to have noticed their other Emma and Snow was glad of that, if she had she might be even more panicked than she was now, the more she thought the more worked up she was becoming Snow realised. Regina walked close ready to transport them all to the hospital, but Snow’s eyes didn’t leave Emma.  
She seemed younger and was smaller than their other Emma, a lot younger and smaller, Snow couldn’t even remember her being like this during the first curse.  
She took a slow and deep breath before sleeping slowly. “Emma, what year is it?”

Emma’s face scrunched up in confusion, she winced at the pain of her face doing so, she didn’t understand why she was asking her that. “Two thousand ‘n’ eleven… What’s…? Why…?” She watched her parents have a silent conversation, they looked worried, her own panic only increased. “I don’t understand. Mommy, what’s going on?”

Regina quickly poofed them all to the hospital. She had a feeling what was going on, but she would need Whale to confirm, then they’d have a whole other problem. She needed Gold to get to the hospital. And the Emma she’d known for seven years after she had known the one who was beaten up in front of her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, long time no update, sorry about that. I finished my last year of university, all I'm waiting for now is graduation, so I've been busy with that, and I've had bad writers block. Anyway I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

 

Once in the hospital Emma was on high alert, machines were attached to her and nurses fussed, but anytime either of her parents were moved to the side she would panic and try to push the nurses away.

“Emma,” Snow said firmly but gently, “I’ll stay at your side but you need to stop trying to fight the nurses, okay?” Snow watched Emma start to calm. “I know you don’t like hospitals but we’re right here. We’re going to help you.” She stood next to the top of Emma’s bed next to her head. She hesitantly reached out and cupped Emma’s cheek and stroked it, she wasn’t hesitant because she didn’t want to be close to her, she was just worried that Emma wouldn’t want her to touch her.

Emma’s head shot to look up at Snow, she bit her lip and let out a small whimper, her head automatically leant into her hand. “I wanna go home. Please, back to the loft, I… I miss it, I just, I, I wanna go, please.”

Snow frowned a little. This was her daughter from the past, who had barely thought of them as her parents, but now seemed like a little kid who just seemed to want them, want her. They would not be abandoning her, not again. But the other thing Emma wanted, to go the loft- the _only_ home they had known, was impossible, someone else was renting the loft off of her.   
“Baby we’re not leaving you ever again, we’re going to figure this all out I promise you, but we have to make sure that you’re okay. We’re going to stay with you, nothing bad is going to happen to you anymore, I’m so sorry baby.” She kept stroking her cheek which seemed to help calm her down but she was still squirming away from the nurses. Snow sent a look towards David who nodded and turned to the head nurse in charge who was trying to write Emma’s file.

“Can I help clean her cuts? The ones on her face.” David asked the head nurse quietly. “She might let me get closer to her.”

The nurse could see how Emma was calmer with them closer, there were some bruises and cuts on the young lady’s face but otherwise she didn’t seem too injured that way. She nodded her head. “Sure, see if you can distract her while I find out if she’s injured.” She told him gratefully.

“Oh I think, well I’m pretty sure, that her wrist or arm is broken, I don’t know about anything else, I couldn’t tell with all this mud.” He took one of the pieces of damp cloth from the nurse.

The nurse frowned and the butterflies she felt in her stomach from simply standing close to the buff prince, farm work had certainly improved his physique, disappeared, there was just something completely wrong about this. “This is… this is Emma, your daughter, right?” She looked like Emma but at the same time she didn’t look like the Emma she had seen not too long ago, for a flu shot, she seemed completely and utterly different. “She’s not like a…?”

David raised his eyebrow as he waited to see what the nurse was about to suggest.

“…Shapeshifter?” She finished slightly self-consciously.

The prince laughed for the first time, it felt like a relief to have something he could actually answer. “I don’t think so, no. She’s… She said she had been trapped in Neverland ,” he looked at his daughter and wife from where he stood at the bottom of her bed, “she… she thinks that it’s twenty eleven, but Gold said that she’s Emma, and so is the other Emma, our Emma.” He shook his head in confusion and sighed deeply.

Nurse Julie was used to seeing patients’ families sighing in the way David did, in the way which showed that they were overwhelmed but trying to keep control of the situation anyway, she saw it often in parents. “Her condition looks good, we’ll look her over and probably have to give her shots to make sure she’s not going to get sick now she’s in a different realm, she might get some colds and she is dehydrated and malnourished, but otherwise she seems to still be physically well.”

David gave her a small smile before moving up to the top of Emma’s bed near her face. “Hey, kiddo, let’s get you cleaned up a bit, yeah?” He started to wipe her face and the nurses were finally able to look over the rest of her and hook her up to an I.V, the mud was dried on and in multiple layers and he frowned when he realised it was mixed with blood from multiple cuts, luckily none of them seemed too bad. “There we go, much better, you’ll just need a little…” he trailed off for a moment as he looked down at her, without the mud and blood her skin was a little bruised with bruises of different ages and colours, and there were small cuts all over her skin, but mostly what struck him wordless was how young she looked. She looked like a little kid, much younger than he had ever seen any version of her look. He shared a look with Snow and could tell she was thinking the same thing. He cleared his throat and looked back at Emma. “Erm, you should only need a little cream, or we can see if Regina can heal them or…” He trailed off again before he mentioned the other Emma.

Julie and the other nurses finished up and the head nurse walked to the family and smiled gently. “Hi Emma, my name’s Julie, I’m going to be one of the nurses looking after you while you’re staying with us.”

“I’m not staying!” Emma said urgently. She looked at David and Snow with big puppy dog eyes.

“I promise you Emma,” Julie said before Snow and David had to try and break it to Emma, “we’ll get you out of here as soon as possible. I have some scrubs for you to wear, they’re comfier than gowns, then we’ll take you down for some scans.”

“I don’t want-”

“Sweetie, you _have_ to have these, you’ve been,” Snow sighed gently “we’ve been separated for quite a while and we need to make sure that you’re okay. Could one of us wait outside of the room for her?”

“There’s a waiting room one of you can wait in. Someone will be in in half an hour to take her down.” The nurse smiled at the three of them before leaving the room to give her some privacy.

“I’ll help you change into the scrub in a minute sweetie, you won’t be able to do it with your arm injured like that, I don’t want you more hurt.”

“I’ll wait outside in a minute while you change but I’ll come down with you.” David promised her. He looked at Snow for a moment and nodded before he looked back at Emma. “Emmy, I know that this is hard but… we need you to tell us what happened in Neverland.”

Emma pulled her knees to her chest, her legs protested at the movement after resting for the first time in years, but she was too scared to think about that. She shook her head insistently. “No. No I don’t wanna go-“

“Shhh, shhh, shhh.” Snow automatically started to stroke her hair, she did the same for her four year old when he was getting worked up, and it seemed to work on Emma too. “It’s okay baby, you are never ever going back there, I promise you, but I really need you to tell me and daddy what happened. Then we can explain everything to you sweetheart. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore, we’re here.” She pressed a kiss to the top of Emma’s hair and knew that it would need serious washing, but that could wait until they found out how much Emma was injured.

Emma bit her lip as she debated what to do. She nodded her head.

“How about you start with when we were in Neverland together?” David prompted.

“You had just told us that you could never leave when we were in Echo Cave.” Emma started quietly. “Mommy was talking to you again and it was night time, everyone was asleep but I couldn’t, it was too loud.”

Snow frowned, she didn’t remember any loud noises when they were trying to sleep, David clearly didn’t either. ”What was too loud?”

“Other kids crying and… an’ monsters.” She swallowed deeply trying not to think of all of them but it was impossible.

David looked over at Snow, alarmed, both of them had noticed the ‘other’ part of the sentence. Neverland had clearly done _something_ to this Emma. “I’m sorry, Emmy, that must have been scary. So you couldn’t sleep because it was loud and scary, then what happened?”

Emma looked down at her hands, there was dirt packed under her jagged nails and blood still crusted around the edge of her nails, she picked at one of them and winced at the pain from her swollen wrist. She frowned. “I tried to wake you up by saying your names but you didn’t hear me. I wanted to know what the singing was. I didn’t say your names loud enough.”

Snow reached out her hand and took hold of her hand to stop her from picking at her hand. “Don’t hurt yourself baby. It’s okay, we’re here, mommy and daddy are here.” She encouraged.

“I followed the noise.” Emma whispered. “I wanted to know what it was, it was pretty and…. I followed it, there was a like a sphere, an orb, it was bright and pretty and then I was frozen, I couldn’t move, I tried I promise I tried. P-Pan was there.”

“Pan’s gone now baby.” Snow promised sincerely.

“Mommy’s right,” David agreed seeing her fear, “Rumple killed him, he’s never ever going to be near you ever again.”

“He- He said he was gonna change me, he said he’d ‘free’ me, split me, his orb started to glow and he said he was going to- to bring out the child in me.”

Snow and David frowned. It made sense in a way, she was acting like a child, but it was the split part which concerned them more. They remembered when Regina split herself from her ‘evil’ self, but in the end they were both still Regina, just two different people… but also the same at the same time. Did the same thing happen to Emma? What about _their_ Emma- their _other_ Emma, was she really different? It took them only ten seconds of silent communication to agree that the Emma they had known for the seven years after Neverland was different than the one they had first met. She was still their daughter, but so was this Emma, nevertheless it was hard to wrap their heads around.

“And then you were stuck there?” Snow asked gently.

“The orb made a copy of me, I think, I think the orb made her like me but different, and made me different. I thought she was going to hurt you. But I was trapped there, the orb let me go after a while, but I couldn’t find you, even Pan was gone, but there were monsters, and the shadows of the lost boys.” Her breath quickened as she started to panic.

“Emma, _Emma,_ it’s okay, you’re safe. Copy my breathing sweetheart. In…. and out…. In…. and out… nice and steady… there we go… good girl… that’s right baby.” Snow’s voice soothed Emma and drew her attention away from the ruckus outside. She glanced to the windows on the corridor with the closed blinds, she could hear the voices and knew who was there. She spared a quick glance and nod at David. “Emma, you were trapped in Neverland for longer than you thought baby.”

Emma frowned in confusion, it had felt like she had been in there forever, but it can’t have been that long. “A… A year?” She sank down in the bed.

“A bit longer, kiddo,” he placed his hand on the top of Emma’s head, “It’s not twenty-eleven, it’s twenty-eighteen, you’ve been gone for seven years. I’m so, so sorry baby girl.”

  “But….” Emma’s face contorted in confusion and she felt like crying because of everything that had happened.

“And Emma,” Snow’s voice was as soft as her touch as she stroked Emma’s cheek, “we would have looked for you I swear, but the other part of you was there, we didn’t know that _you_ this version of you was missing. I’m so sorry, if we had known we would have brought you both back.” She gently kissed Emma’s forehead and when she moved enough David followed suit.

“There’s another me?” Emma asked them quietly, she had remembered seeing her formed of course, but she hadn’t thought of her as another her just as cruel trick on her parents. “She’s like real? She’s not an evil robot?”

David sighed gently. It was no lie that he and Snow had noticed the difference in Emma since she and Henry had gotten back from New York all those years ago, but they had thought it was because Neal had been born, then Emma entering into the relationship with Hook and then marrying him. Neither of these two seemed like the ‘real’ Emma, because neither of them were, they were half of each Emma who then changed to fit in with their environments. “She is real. And she’s not evil. She’s just like you but more…” he stopped himself from saying grown up he wasn’t sure yet if that would be helpful and if this was all just temporary, “she’s different, and she’s, erm,” he sighed again and looked at Snow who gave him a small nod there was no way they could avoid this, “she’s older than you, more grown up.”

“Emma, sweets, you said that Pan said he’d bring out the kid in you, is that how you feel.” She spoke softly but Emma still tried to sink into herself. “It’s okay sweetheart, that’s okay, mommy and daddy just need to know so that we can help you.”

Emma nodded her head. “I’m sorry, I tried not to.” She said quickly.

“It’s okay, sweetie, it’s okay.” Snow carefully took her into her arms and rocked her, she felt her daughter cuddle up to her, when they were in Neverland Snow hadn’t known how to comfort Emma, by now she was an expert on how to comfort her kids… all three of them now, she supposed. She knew that they needed to speak to the other Emma too, she looked up at David who was stroking Emma’s hair and he nodded his head. “I’m going to help you get changed into these scrubs while Daddy goes to talk to… some people.”

“Then me and mommy are going to switch over and I’ll wait outside as you get your scans.” David dropped a kiss to Emma’s forehead and quickly kissed Snow. “We’ll figure this all out.” He promised so that just she could hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave me a review and let me know what you want to see. Next chapter has both Emmas included!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David talks to Emma and his family.

Emma was in the waiting room when David got there, the Emma who had been around for the past seven years, flanked on her sides by Regina, Killian, and Henry.

“Dad, what the hell-“

David held up his hand, he must have had on his Prince look as Emma actually stopped demanding, even if she was now frowning. He sighed, wondering how to tell the group, especially Emma. “Rumple’s right.” He told them. “That Emma is also well, you.” He gestured to his daughter with a sympathetic smile.

“That’s not possible-!” She began to shout.

“Emma.” Regina said firmly. “Her magic is the same as yours. It’s like a fingerprint, no two the same, mine and the Evil Queen version of me had almost the same, just like you two have.”

Emma frowned and dropped into her seat, within a second her dad was at her side, his hand rubbing her back.

“What I _would_ like to know, is what the hell happened and when.” Regina’s eyes were on David but she briefly glanced at her son who seemed to be taking it all in, but he wasn’t too damaged by it by the looks of it, he was Henry after all.

“Neverland.” David had never hated that place more than he did right then. “Seven years ago. Emma wandered off when we were all sleeping, she heard some crying and some music.” Emma seemed to remember the crying but she frowned at the music part. “She says there was something there, some magical orb? Then the two of you were split up. You probably don’t remember this because of Pan.” He added to Emma.

“So, she’s evil?” Emma asked, looking more determined than any of them had seen in a while, if this ‘Emma’ was evil she would at least be able to _do_ something about it.

“No.” David said without hesitation, he felt everyone’s eyes suddenly focus on him. He could feel the surprise. “She’s not, she’s… Pan said something to her about bringing out her inner child.”

“Well, what the hell does that mean?” Regina looked to the window into the room but the blinds were closed.

“She’s a kid.” Emma stated, staring off towards the room, but she was clearly seeing something else in her mind.

David sighed gently and wrapped his arm around his daughter. “Kind of. She looks a bit younger than you, younger than you looked when you first came to town, and she acts…” he shrugged his shoulders. “She acts like she’s like Neal’s age, she’s obviously been through a lot, she’s not let go of either of us.” He tugged his daughter closer to him while thinking about his other daughter, did he have two daughters now? What was the right steps to take? He only knew one thing, he wasn’t about to lose either of his daughters.

Emma frowned, one moment she was at her son's graduation ceremony, now suddenly she has some sort of copy? Clone? Sister? Twin? She sighed heavily and let her head drop onto her dad's shoulder, it had been a while since she had let herself do that, she had forgotten how comforting he could be. She felt him drop a kiss onto her head. “Can I see her?” She asked him.

David paused for a moment. “She’s gotta have loads of tests and stuff, definitely a bath, I think tomorrow will be best, she needs some sleep.”

Emma’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’ll stay here then.”

“No, you should go home, you need sleep just as much as she does.”

“Dad-“

“Em,” his voice was weary and tired, “please?” He wanted to make sure that Emma was safe and well too, he didn’t care that she was in her thirties, he was stressed and needed to know where she and Neal were, and where and how this new Emma was too.

Emma sighed but nodded her head. “Okay.”

“Was she sent here by Pan?”

David had barely noticed Henry because of how quiet the young man had been. Henry had been through a lot since his own kidnapping to Neverland, yet he could see the worry in his eyes, there was always one villain that still scared any hero, Henry’s was Pan. “No,” he told him with the wise sounding certainty which only a grandfather could seem to be able to pull off. “No, kid, she’s terrified of Neverland and of Pan, and he’s long dead, he’s not back. I don’t know how she got here, I’m not sure she does either, but I know however it happened Pan didn’t plan it this way. We know how much Pan liked to torment your mom,” he squeezed Emma’s arm as she kept her head on his shoulder, “I’m not even sure he meant for this Emma to get to this realm.”

Henry frowned but nodded his head, he trusted his grandfather, if he believed the validity of this Emma then so did he.

“That little shit.” Emma growled. She stood up with her fists clenched wanting to punch someone or something though she was pretty sure no one would like her doing that. She wanted to do _something_ , she hated all of this inactivity and that she could do nothing to Pan.

“Let me talk to her.” Killian spoke up for the first time. His voice was commanding and fierce. “She’s probably evil, we should keep her in the mental ward until she’s better, if she’s even properly injured.” He stepped forward and grabbed hold of Emma’s hand, he felt her try to shake him off, but he held tight.

David clenched his teeth trying not to lose his temper. “No. She doesn’t need to be taken anywhere, she’s not evil, and she’s injured.”

“She could be the evil copy!”

“Neither of them are evil, and neither of them are copies.”

“But which one was there first?” Killian narrowed his eyes at David.

David stepped forward, his voice lowered, yet he managed to convey how furious he was. Killian was offending both of his daughter, he didn’t care about the look on his wife’s face, the fear over his reaction. “I’m going to say this just once, _Hook_ , because you’re going to listen. It doesn’t matter which one of my _daughters_ was around first, neither of them are evil they are just two different people, and if you go near this one _especially_ right now, I’ll have _you_ thrown into the psych ward. You should go home, there’s nothing anyone can do tonight, if you want to be helpful you’ll see if anyone you know has heard of anything happening to Neverland. But _do not_ push me.”

“You think that she got sent here because something happened in Neverland?” Regina looked surprised yet impressed at David’s thought process.

David spared one last look at Killian before moving away from him, he looked at Regina instead, he shrugged then sighed. “Maybe this is Snow rubbing off on me, but perhaps there was a good part of the island still left, maybe something happened to the island without us knowing, and maybe a good part of it saved her?”

“There was good magic there.” Henry said. He looked at the wide eyes staring at him. “When I was there, I could feel it, heart of the truest believer or whatever.” His hand went to the back of his head, a gesture he had gained from his maternal grandfather, he gave his grandfather a thin smile. “Can I see her, when she’s better? I know you said she’s different, but…” He trailed off with a shrug not sure what to say. That she was still his mom? Though was she? She was a kid, according to David, like his uncle or even younger. “Maybe I could help?”

David smiled softly at his grandson, he may just about be an adult, but David saw the same caring eight year old who wanted to be a hero, and was the sweetest most caring kid around. He pulled him into a tight hug, his hand went to the back of Henry’s head, cradling it. “You’re a good kid- man, you’re a good man. Give us a couple of days, we’ll get her settled, make sure she’s not injured and we’ll see how she’s doing mentally, but I think it’ll be good for you to see her.” He let go of him and saw a brave smile appear on his face. “But for now you should go home with your mom.” He gave Regina a smile, they both wanted to know exactly where their family members were tonight no matter their ages. “Go on, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He encouraged, sharing another look with Regina, before watching them both head out of the hospital.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Em,” he hugged his daughter and kissed her temple, “ _Hook._ ” His voice went firm and cold, when saying his son in law’s name, he had never understood Regina’s feelings towards himself that much.

David started to head back towards the room.

“Killian, go home, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“ _Swan?_ ”

Emma froze, _she_ wouldn’t call her husband controlling, but they rarely disagreed and he was quite… well, he was probably the one who would be seen as wearing the trousers in their relationship. She watched her own father freeze, and it took her a moment to realise that he was waiting to make sure that she was okay, what surprised her more was that she felt relieved that he had. “I’m going to go and pick up Nee, I’ll take him back to my parents, then take him to preschool in the morning before I come back here. But I’ll see you at home tomorrow.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek. He frowned deeply, she could tell he really wasn’t happy, but that was probably just because of his and her dad’s confrontation earlier - and now she was seemingly siding with her dad.

“Okay,” he looked back at David before looking at Emma, “I’ll get some of our packing for our trip done.” He pulled her into a proper, and drawn out, kiss.

Emma pulled out of the kiss when she could. She smiled at her handsome husband. “Yeah,” she said noncommittally, she wanted to, no needed to, stay here right now, with this new Emma, she couldn’t just leave, she didn’t _want_ to, “yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow, babe.”

Emma watched him leave, and watched her father start to walk back to the hospital room once again. “Dad?” Emma’s voice was quiet but it filled the empty room. “You didn’t tell…” She took a deep breath. “ _She_ was the original one of us, me and he, wasn’t she, that’s why you didn’t tell Killian”

David walked back over to his daughter and wrapped her into a big hug. His hand cradled the back of her head as he always did, every version of her, she was always his baby. “It doesn’t matter, you’re both Emma, you’re both my baby girl, nothing changes that, not even this, though it might be best if we call the other Emma something else, it’ll make it easier to know which of you we’re talking about.” He joked and felt a little relief when he felt her laugh against him. “Just promise me you’re not going to run away from us because of this? Because of her. As far as I’m concerned I just have three kids now, and if you disappeared it would devastate both your mother and I, I know you’re planning to travel with Hook but-”

“I’m not going,” her words surprised her, “I mean I’ll go eventually, probably, I mean Hook wants to go so we will… before we _settle down_ -” she said the words as though she had said that she was about to be buried alive “- I just mean I’m stay here for a while, I need to meet her, I want to, even if it’ll be weird as shit… Is she really like a younger me?”

“She looks younger than I ever saw you, well other than during the curse when I woke for a little while, but she’s younger than I’ve known you, physically, but a lot mentally.” He pulled back and brushed some hair behind Emma’s ear. “She’s been hurt a lot, and she’s covered in mud, but she’s just _so_ young, and scared, and she’s only been answering to Emmy.”

“Let’s call her that then.” Emma said, she was frowning at hearing the other her was so scared. “Emmy… You should go, I know I feel better if you’re there when I’m scared.”

David smiled softly. “Are you sure? I can stay here a little longer if you need me, kid.”

“I’m okay dad.” She kissed his cheek. “You go, I’ll go and pick up Neal, then go home- your home.”

David smiled. “It’ll always be your home too, kid. And thank you. I’m not sure if I’d be as good as you’re being with all of this.”

“I mean, I guess coming home after a year away and mom was about two months away from giving birth prepared me for gaining siblings in weird ways.”

David laughed gently, he watched her leave, then headed back towards his other daughter’s room.

  



	6. Chapter 6

David and Snow received a text and picture off of their daughter, their oldest daughter, that Neal was home in his own bed asleep, they both smiled at the sight of their four year old peacefully asleep in his own bed at home, but they knew it was far from time for them to go to bed. 

They both stood up from their chairs as Emma’s bed was wheeled back into her room in her hospital bed. 

Emma’s cheeks were red from crying, or as much of her cheeks they could see underneath all of the mud, she looked as though she had just been tortured or kidnapped or something. “Mommy! Daddy!” 

David and Snow quickly wrapped her up in their arms. 

“Oh baby,” Snow was trying her hardest not to squeeze her too tight, “we’re right here honey.”

David cupped the back of Emma’s head, her hair was matted by mud and blood, but he was only worried about her. “You were so brave baby, so so brave, but we’re here now it’s okay.” 

“Erm, Mr and Mrs Charming?” The doctor on call walked over to the family. She had been told everything they knew about who  _ this _ Emma was, she figured it would be best to talk to the parents in this case, the nurses stood at the side of the room waiting. “I’m the doc on call, doctor Maria Jefferson.” She normally would have held out her hand to shake theirs, but she could see they were busy with their daughter, she smiled gently in return to their smiles, and she smiled down at the terrified patient. “Hi there Emma, I just need to talk to your mommy and daddy, but it’s okay you can keep hold of them.” She looked back up at David and Snow. “Normally we would want to put a cast on her arms and bandage a couple of her other injuries, but obviously with your daughter in her current state any open wounds are likely to become infected, ideally we want to bathe in a proper bath her but…” she trailed off looking to where Emma was holding so tight onto David and Snow’s clothes that she probably wasn’t even noticing the pain in her injured arm. 

“Let me help,” Snow spoke up, “I’ll be able to help and keep her calm.” She saw the grateful look from the doctors and nurses and realised that they were worried about upsetting Emma. She wasn’t sure if it was pity for her or if it was fear about what Emma could do when upset. “Emma,” she talked to her as though she was watching one of the very young members of her school, she waited for her to look at her, “the doctor and nurses say that you need to have a bath before they can sort out your injuries.”

“No!” Emma practically shouted. “No they just did that.” She said panicking. 

Snow placed her hands on the top of either of Emma’s arms. “ _ Emmy, I need you to listen to me baby _ . The nurses managed to clean you up a little bit but you need to have a quick bath,” Emma opened her mouth to argue again, “I’ll stay with you the entire time, okay? They have some really cool big baths here, and once you’ve had one you’ll feel a little better, not so itchy.” She reached out to place her hand on Emma’s hand which was currently scratching her skin. 

“I don’t like the water…” 

Snow frowned, she remembered how Emma used to use up all the water in the loft. “I’ll be there the whole time and I won’t let anything happen to you.” She swore.

Emma very slowly nodded her head but she looked worriedly at David then back at Snow. “But Daddy…” 

“I’m staying right here, Emma.” He watched her frown and he thought it was because he was staying there but he realised it was because he said ‘Emma’, he was beyond confused, be he wasn’t going to be the one who made her sad or scared. “Do you want us to call you Emma or Emmy?” He asked gently. 

“Emmy.” She said immediately. 

“Okay.” Snow said straight away. “Okay, Emmy it is. Do you want to tell us why-“ Emmy was shaking her head urgently- “Okay honey, you can tell us if you want, but we won’t make you. We’ll call you Emmy and the other- your sister Emma, until we can figure something out.” She gently cupped her cheek.

 

* * *

 

As Snow and Emmy went down to the dermatology suite, where there was a big bathtub, David sat in one of the big armchairs, he got a text from Emma and replied to it, she seemed very chatty that night, normally it was days between texts, he supposed she was bored in their house without anyone there and awake. 

As he waited for a reply, and for his wife and other daughter to come back, he changed the armchairs into beds for himself and Snow, and after about two hours he went to grab hot chocolates for them too. 

 

* * *

 

Emmy hated water, Snow quickly found out. Weirdly she didn’t freak out seeing the bath, or Snow thought that was weird when Emmy clung onto her for clear life as soon as the water started to run, Snow was reminded of when Neal was a small baby and he hated being bathed. 

“Hey, hey, hey” Snow hushed soothingly.    
She would let Emmy cling onto her as much as she wanted, she couldn’t believe that she hadn’t known that Emma had split in half, she was her daughter she should have known,  _ somehow _ . But then she supposed that she had seen the change, one which had only increased when Emma and Killian had gotten together, and not necessarily for the better. She had tried…. A bit…. She knew really that hadn’t as much as she could have,  _ should have _ . Realising that the girls had split, like Regina had, she felt almost like she was being given another chance to do right by her girls- both Emma and Emmy. 

“It’s okay baby, it’s okay, my little Emmy.” 

“No, no I don’t want to go in there, no don’t make me, please mommy-“ 

“Emmy, listen to me, honey, listen.” She held onto her, keeping her close, but her voice was firm enough to get her attention. “I promise you that I’ll be right here, I won’t be leaving your side, and nothing will happen to you.” She saw that Emmy wasn’t fully convinced, she had a way to get her to, but she hated to use it. “Sweetheart, you need to have a bath, that way you’ll get better and can go home quicker.”

It worked. Snow looked at Emmy’s clothes, she knew that they were same ones Emma had been wearing in Neverland, but they looked barely recognisable. She helped Emmy up out of the wheelchair. Emmy just stood there. “Okay, baby.” She realised that Emmy wasn’t about to move or to undress. She crouched down and unzipped the boots. “Step out honey.” She did as she was told and Snow realised that she was only wearing one sock. And that they were a pair of  _ her _ old ones, Emma must have pinched them, like she used to ‘borrow’ David’s jacket and shirts. She removed that as well. She managed to peel off Emmy’s vest top but the nurses had to cut away the skinny jeans. Beneath the clothes Emmy was caked with mud, she couldn’t see an inch of Emmy’s skin at all. One of the nurses took all of the clothes away to be burnt, and Snow realise how happy she was, she didn’t want to see them ever again. 

Emmy let her mom and the nurses help her into the bath, she was shaking, though Snow wasn’t sure if it was due to her being cold or scared. Snow crouched down next to the bath. 

“You are so, so brave.” She praised quietly, she felt Emmy cling onto her arm, her sharp nails digging into the flesh, but Snow didn’t care about anything but her distressed daughter right then. She accepted one of the sponges which was handed to her then an idea dawned on her. She asked the another one and passed it to a confused Emmy. “I’m going to clean up this arm of yours,” she gently tapped Emmy’s uninjured arm, “do you want to help me?” 

Emmy took the sponge but didn’t do anything with it.

Snow forced herself not to frown, this was early days, so much had happened in the past few hours, it felt like it should have been days or weeks not hours. “Okay, I’m just going to clean the top of your arm honey, it looks like you’ve got a cut on it, I’ll clean it very carefully.” She started to gently wipe the skin, having to press a little harder to get some especially stubborn parts of mud off of it. Emmy clearly needed a haircut, and by the looks of it some of the muddy tangled hair was going to have to be cut out anyway, Emma’s nails were long and sharp and also needed a trim, and as she managed to clean some of the skin she saw how dry it looked. She cleaned up the cut which was in the process of healing itself. 

“It was a mermaid.” 

Snow looked up at Emmy. 

“A really really bad mermaid not the nice ones.” 

“A bad mermaid cut you?” Emmy nodded her head. “I’m sorry that happened.” She said softly, she didn’t want to push it, but she gently urged Emmy to go on if she wanted.

“Yeah, I was at the mermaid bath, and she didn’t want me to go there anymore so she hurt me. Then all the nice mermaids went away too.” 

Snow frowned, she figured this happened at Mermaid Cove, by the sounds of it Emmy had had a couple of nice people there in neverland with her, at least for a little while. “I’m sorry that a mean mermaid wasn’t very nice to you.” She soothed. “There’s no mean mermaids around here, I promise you, especially not in your bath.”

Emmy looked down at the bathwater weighing up Snow’s statement. She guessed that there weren’t any, they weren’t even running any water into it anymore, the nurses were pouring it from jugs. “It looks funny.” She moved her hand through the clouded and dark water, she ignored the nurses scrubbing her all over, it wasn’t hurting and her mommy was there with her for the first time in so long, longer than she had known, that was the main thing.

It took her a moment to realise what Emmy was on about. Then she gently laughed for the first time since Henry’s graduation. “Well, it’s white when they’re pouring it in because they’re putting ointment in it, it’s going to help heal all of your little cuts and make your skin super soft so it won’t get itchy.”

“Oh.” 

“But it keeps changing colour because we’re getting all of that mud off of you.” 

Emmy looked down at her skin for the first time and realised that it was clear, from mud at least, there were cuts and bruises of different ages, a few fading scars from burns, along with scars both Emma and Emmy had from their life before Neverland. It looked completely alien to her, even after her dips in Mermaid Cove she was never that clean, she gently touched it and quickly looked again. “It’s still clean.” 

Snow tilted her head to the side. “Of course.” Snow watched her continue to look surprised for a few moments, she looked so young, not just physically but emotionally and mentally, a young child stuck in a body too old for it. It made sense, she had admitted that she felt like a kid, plus the island had done something similar before and turned Malcom into Peter Pan, it was just weird to see on the person she loved so much, yet had only seen at two stages in her life - newborn and adult. 

A nurse got her attention and shared a look. 

Snow gently touched Emmy’s clean cheek to get her attention again. “We’re nearly finished here, are you hungry?”

“Yeah.” Snow had barely finished her sentence when Emmy interrupted she was so eager to eat.

“Okay honey, well, we’ll get you some food as soon as we’re back in your room.” She promised. “And I’ll see if I can find some hot cocoa, then we’ll all get some sleep.”

 

* * *

 

 

Getting Emmy’s hair sorted was a lot more hassle than washing her. She held tightly onto Snow the whole time, and by the time it was done Emmy was several inches of hair less, but it too was clean and soft like her skin. Emmy’s wrist, it turned out, was just badly bruised and fractured, they wrapped it up and told Snow they would give her a splint to wear during the day time. Emmy’s eyes were red with tears as she had cried so much, but she clearly didn’t blame Snow, in fact she clung to her as she was covered in two different types of creams and helped into a pair of pyjamas a nurse had found for her. Without the mud and in simple clothing she looked even younger that Snow had thought.

 

* * *

 

Back in the room Emmy wolfed down the food she was given and drank the hot cocoa David had bought, and within the hour was fast asleep,clearly she felt safe for the first time in a long time, safe enough to sleep. 

 

* * *

 

Snow stood up from her own chair bed to tuck Emmy into bed for about the fourth time.

“Get some sleep, love, I have a feeling tomorrow’s going to be a long day.” David’s voice was low and full of love for his wife and everyone else who would be involved in it. 

Snow walked around the hospital bed to David’s on the other side of it. He pulled her down gently so that she was perched on his lap. “I just… I don’t want to close my eyes and have her disappear... like last time.”

“That’s not happening again, I promise.” David swore firmly, he wouldn’t let it happen, ever again. He rested his head on her shoulder. “The doctor told me we should be able to take her home tomorrow, and Emma wants to meet Emmy.”

Snow pulled a face. “I’m not sure how well that’s going to go.” She bit her lip. 

“Emma seemed quite open to it, but I suppose they’re very different people even if they do look alike, it’s going to be difficult.”

Snow was silent for moment. “David…” She spoke slowly. “Emmy will be expecting to go to our old home, the loft, and she has no idea about Neal, and I don’t know how he’s going to react to this, we have Emma but otherwise he’s basically an only child.”

David wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her so they were both now led down but both squeezed together on the armchair bed which was only made for one, but they’d rather be together, especially right now. “We’ll figure this out, we always do, I guess now we have three kids.” He thought about Emma taking his side against Hook and not wanting to go home with him- finding any excuse whether it be staying in the waiting room or taking care of Neal. “I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of Emma too.”

“Good.” Snow yawned. “I’ve missed her.” She gave a gentle laugh. 

David spooned her from behind nuzzling his face against her cheek over her shoulder. “What?”

“We gained another baby, we have a son, and two daughters.”

David shook his head but gave another laugh. “We can never have babies born in a normal way or order, can we?” 

“It suits our family.” Snow said good naturedly, trying to make light out of the complex situation. 

“Emma knows that she was the one who went into the copy body when they split.” David told her quietly. “I told her it didn’t matter.”

“Of course it doesn’t matter, they’re both our daughter,  _ daughters _ , that’s what matters, that they’re both safe, and healthy, and happy.”

David thought back to Emma and Hook and wondered if she was really happy now that they were out of the honeymoon period. “We’ll make sure that they both are.”

The two of them fell asleep turned so that they were facing Emmy if she needed them. 

  
  



End file.
